Shots that shook Sydney

Even for Sydney, increasingly hardened by crime, the deadly family feud that burst upon it in the early hours of Tuesday was shocking. Three gunmen, one using an automatic weapon, fired indiscriminately into 5 Lawford Street, Greenacre, killing 22-year-old Mervat Hanka, asleep in her bed, and 24-year-old Ziad Abdulrazak, who'd been to jail for drug offences. More than 100 bullets riddled the fibro bungalow.

The next day, as police were gathering evidence, laundry fluttered in the backyard of No. 5, an awful reminder that two children, aged two and four, might also have been slaughtered had they not been staying with relatives.

The open warfare between two extended families started in earnest on August 29 when Ali Abdulrazak was shot 10 times after prayers at the Lakemba Mosque. Police are still unsure about the exact motive for the feud, although a senior detective pointed to a marriage more than a decade ago that has more recently become acrimonious.

Abdulrazak had separated from his wife, Khadige Darwiche, but she has been reported as saying the break-up had nothing to do with the violence.

On the other hand, the detective said some members of the extended families were engaged in drugs, car rebirthing and guns. In one sense, he said, the original reason for the war didn't matter. "It appears this feud has been going on for a long, long time [and] I think the original motive has probably been lost, it is just uncontrolled rage . . . revenge."

He said if the shootings were drug-related, then the case would really be little different from the turf wars Sydney has seen in Chinatown, Cabramatta and other parts of south-west Sydney in the past few years where rival gangs or groups have battled for control of drugs or car-rebirthing rackets.

While police tried to soothe community fears, stressing the shootings were family-related, the feeling that gun crime is out of control was only reinforced by yet another incident yesterday morning, when shots were fired into a house in Sadleir. The family had previously been the target of another shooting and an arson attack, but hadn't reported either incident to police.

While the public perception is of crime out of control, that is not supported by the latest figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics. For instance, the number of shooting-with-intent incidents in 2002 was down 26 per cent on the previous year. Assaults with a handgun were down 36 per cent. However, there is a feeling in police circles that the number of firearms offences has risen in recent months.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Waites says he believes police have recently been reasonably effective in breaking up criminal groups in the south-west, but the upshot is that this has left a vacuum which other criminals are trying to fill.

Tuesday's Greenacre shooting raises broader issues about policing and ethnic crime. Take one of the centrepieces of policing in NSW, Operation Vikings, which involves large numbers of police sweeping through streets in a particular suburb for a night or two to increase police visibility and deter crime.

One of the first Vikings operations included a sweep by more than 100 uniformed police through Chinatown. It was meant to put fear into the hearts of gangsters, but within a couple of days young members of the Big Circle gang had rampaged through the area, smashing windows, mirrors and aquariums in a bid to stake a claim on some of the rackets, including extortion.

Last week, another Vikings operation swung into action - with police taking to the streets of Bankstown, right next door to Greenacre. Police this week were uncharacteristically coy about the number of officers that had been deployed, citing "operational" reasons.

While Vikings raises visibility - and that's good - it is costing taxpayers millions of dollars and so far there is no indication it actually works. Indeed, events in Chinatown and Greenacre suggest the contrary.

What did work in Chinatown was Strike Force Willowvale, which targeted the Big Circle gang, picking members off one by one and then raiding a restaurant where about 120 members and associates were tucking into lobster and crab. The strike force arrested and charged dozens of gang members - and deported at least 50 who were found to be illegal immigrants.

The cry this week by the Premier, Bob Carr, to the feuding families to "obey the law of the land, or leave us" may play well with the voters but it is a little difficult to deport Australian citizens.

While the identity of those involved in this week's shootings is not yet known, many shootings and stabbings in the late 1990s were committed by a gang of young Australians with a Lebanese background. There was the murder of Edward Lee and the brazen and unprecedented shooting of the Lakemba police station, to name just two incidents.

While the gang was ethnically based, as were Big Circle and the violent Vietnamese gangs that were warring in Cabramatta, its leader - who is now in jail and can't be named for legal reasons - was born in Australia, went to school here, was bright and came from a loving and happy family home.

The Opposition has tried to compare the shootings involving the two families to the policing fiasco in Cabramatta, which helped bring about the downfall of Commissioner Peter Ryan. The Opposition spokesman on police, Peter Debnam, said that, as in Cabramatta, senior police (in this case Deputy Commissioner Dave Madden) had been warned trouble was brewing.

Police have questioned the claim, and there is now pressure on the Opposition to back it up.

Questions have also been raised as to why Strike Force Grapple, already investigating the murder of Abdulrazak and four other attacks on the homes and businesses of people related to him, failed to prevent the killings in Lawford Street. Why was there no surveillance?

According to senior police, while two families are central to the feud, friends, relatives and associates are also involved, with perhaps 20 to 30 on each side. The smallest surveillance team comprises six police and many need 10, depending on the number of "splits" or meetings the criminals are making.

It is encouraging that, unlike in Cabramatta, Strike Force Grapple was set up quickly after the first murder. It is being led by Detective Chief Superintendent Helen Begg who, in 1999 at 33, became the youngest person to attain that rank.

More than 30 officers are working on the three murders and four other shootings.

In 1988 there were 34 detectives for every 100,000 people in NSW, but by 2002 it had fallen to 29. That means investigators are now stretched to breaking point. When the police allocate resources and target serious and violent crime they get good results, as they did in Cabramatta and in Chinatown. But it takes time and money

While no one underestimates the task confronting police, the bigger challenge is for the community and particularly the politicians to rise above the easy grab for the evening news. Telling people - many, if not most, of whom are Australians - to go home is unlikely to provide a solution.